Warriors fall prey to Tigers

  BANGOR, Maine — Two regular-season losses to its semifinal foe didn’t intimidate the Fort Fairfield boys basketball team one bit Thursday evening.
In fact, that familiarity proved a valuable commodity as the third-ranked Tigers surged past No. 2 Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook 71-52 in their Class D matchup at the Cross Insurance Center.
The win advances Fort Fairfield (17-4) to Saturday’s 10:45 a.m. regional final against the winner of Thursday’s second semifinal between Washburn and Machias.
“When we played them before we didn’t hit any shots and tonight we were hot and kept shooting the ball really well,” said Fort Fairfield sophomore guard Chris Giberson, who totaled 15 points, six rebounds and four assists to earn Darling’s/BDN Most Valuable Player honors. “And our defense was unbelievable. We knew how they played now so we could game plan them a lot better.”
Jumping out to an 11-0 lead didn’t hurt, either. The Tigers came out firing from long range with Giberson, Johnny Theriault and Robbie Watson each connecting on 3-pointers to prompt two early Southern Aroostook timeouts.
Those stoppages allowed the Warriors to regroup but not threaten Fort Fairfield, which led 25-14 at the end of the first quarter and 44-30 at halftime thanks to 58 percent (15 of 26) shooting from the field, including a 5-of-6 effort from 3-point land.
And that was with Watson and center Hunter Beaulieu spending much of the second quarter on the bench with foul trouble.
“We’ve been waiting all year for these guys to come out of their shells and start hitting shots and all of them finally on one night started hitting and opening up the inside,” first-year Fort Fairfield coach Logan McLaughlin said.
And the defense was unreal. To come out with that 11-0 run and hit shots but also shut them down at the other end was just perfect.”
Southern Aroostook amped up its defensive pressure after intermission but drew no closer as every mini-run by the Warriors was answered by the Tigers, who stretched their margin to 61-36 by the end of the third quarter.
“We just stayed comfortable with the ball and we kept attacking,” Giberson said.
Watson led Fort Fairfield offensively with 18 points, while Caleb Daigle joined Giberson with 15 points, Beaulieu had 10 points and eight rebounds and Theriault contributed eight points.
Cameron Landry scored 15 points and Jackson Mathers had 13 for Southern Aroostook, which ended its season at 19-2 after having its 13-game winning streak ended.